Two wheeled motor vehicle



Myzl l1940` J. G.,T|NG| E 2,201,639

TWO WHEELED MOTOR VEHICLE Filed Feb. 7, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 May 21,1940- J. G. TINGLE 2,201,639

TWO WHEELED MOTOR VEHICLE Filed Feb`. '7, 1959 2 sheets-sheet 2 PatentedMay zi, 1940 2,201,639

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE TWO WHEELED MOTOR VEHICLE James G. Tingle,Miami, Fla.

Application February 7, 1939, Serial No. 255,145

2 Claims. (Cl. 180-33) 'I'his invention relates to motor vehicles of theinverted U-shape, has the lower ends of its legs tandem, two-wheeledtype comprising a long attached to the side frame members 5, and itsnarrow body, a rear propelling ground wheel, and top transverse portioncarries plates 13b. Springs a steerable front wheel. The machine of theI4 bear between the plates I3b and any suitable 5 present invention isvery similar to that shown form of blocks l5, mounted upon the members lin my Patent No. 2,141,568, issued on December I2 of the rear forks.Guide bolts I6 project 27, 1938, and the application for which was fileddownwardly from I3a and upwardly from I5 February 14, 1938. to preventthe accidental dislodgment of the As this description proceeds, it willbe seen springs It.

that the present application adds new features 'Through the cross memberI3a, the rear end of '10! of construction by virtue of which the drivethe main frame is spring supported upon the mechanism is improved, abetter balan-ce of parts rear fork I2, and the ,rearv fork is in turnsupis achieved, and increased rigidity of the frame ported upon the rearground wheel. The rear is brought about, forks are preferably made ofchannel steel, which In the accompanying drawings: gives great strengthwith lightness, and the rear Figure l is a view partly in side elevationand ends of these members are welded to strengthenpartly in section of amachine construction in ing protuberant portions I1, and these membersaccordance with the invention; are in turn welded to enlarged plates I8,I8'. A

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional View upon line transverse yoke 22,likewise of channel formation 2 2 of Fig. l, illustrating the steerableprop and of U-shape, extends over the body of the 20 wheels hereinafterdescribed; rear wheel, forms a support for a mud guard I9, Fig. 3 is aplan View of the prop wheels with and has its protuberant lower ends|91)` welded certain of the parts omitted; to the plates I8, I8'. Mudguard braces I9c Fig. 4 is a horizontal sectional view of the are alsoconnected to these plates.

drive gear connections for the rear wheels; Referring now to Fig. 4, itwill be seen that the 25Ji Fig. 5 is a partial plan View of the machineplate I8 has a hollow shaft section 2Ia. passing frame; therethrough andthat the plate I8 is bound be- Fig. 6 is an enlarged side elevation ofthe rear tween nuts 3l and 32, threaded upon said hollow wheel mounting,parts being broken away for shaft section. The shaft II passes throughthe ao'clearness; hollow shaft section 2Ia and has a nut 33 $0- Fig. '7is a view similar to Figure 5, illustrating threaded thereon. A collar2Ic, on the hollow the rear wheel driving connection; shaft section 2Ia,acts as a member against Fig. 8 is an enlarged fragmentary sectionilluswhich a fixed cover disk 2| d may be bound by trating the controlmeans for the caster wheels, the inner nut 32.

and The hollow shaft section 2Ia has a reduced 35'@ Fig. 9 is afragmentary side elevation of the end portion which fits into a hollowshaft secfork connection from the left side of the mation 2lb, both ofthese hollow shaft sections beohine, ing supported upon the solid shaftI I. A ring Like numerals designate corresponding parts gear toothsection 20 is secured by bolts 20a 40 throughout the several figures ofthe drawings. to the ring gear body 20h. vThis ring gear body 40 'Ihemain horizontal frame members of the is supported by roller bearings 29upon the machine are indicated at 5, and this frame supperiphery of thehollow shaft section 2Ia., and ports any suitable type of body andseats, indian adjusting nut 3U provides means for adjusting cated in ageneral way in dot and' dash lines at 6 these roller bearings.

and 1. A hand steering wheel 8, accessible from A rotative brake drum20c is bound between 45` the drivers seat 1, is utilized to impartturning the ring gear body 20h and a ring 20e by means movement to thesteering front ground wheel 9 of bolts 20j, so that the brake drum iscaused to through gears 8a, 8b. This ground wheel 9, torotate with thering gear, and so that braking gether with the rear driving wheel I0,constitute of the vehicle may be effected through the medithe rollingsupports for the vehicle. um of this brake drum and ring gear. 50

The propelling ground wheel Ill is supported The rear wheel hub 25 ismounted upon the by means of a solid shaft I I at the rear ends ofperiphery of the hollow shaft section 2 Ib through the rear fork membersI2, said rear fork memthe medium of roller' bearings 21, and this rearbers being pivotally mounted at I3 upon the side wheel hub, andconsequently the ring gear, parframe members 5. A supporting member I3a,of take ofthe rotation of the rear wheel by being 55'1- secured to thering body 20e through the medium of cap screws 28. A ller piece 24surrounds the shaft Il and lies between the end of 2lb and the plateI8'. A nut 23 binds the plate IB' against the filler piece 24. Adivision wall separates the space within the brake drum into a ring gearcompartment X and a brake cylinder compartment Z.

The compartment X may contain lubricant for the gears, and to preventthis lubricant from getting over` into the brake cylinder compartment, afelt washer 36 is secured to the division Wall 35 and bears upon theperiphery of the ring gear body 20h, Pressure fluid for operatinghydraulic brakes may be introduced through the tube indicated at 20h,one of the brake cylinders being indicated at 202'. Brake shoes are notshown since these are of well-known conventional type.

A felt washer 20k prevents the escape of grease outwardly through thering gear body 26e. The ring gear tooth section 20 meshes with a bevelpinion 9a, and the brake drum cover plate 2|d is so shaped as toconstitute a part of the housing Illa. for said pinion and for theanti-friction bearing 20m of said pinion.

The shaft 9b leading from the pinion is extended through a housingmember 9c and is connected tov one of the elements 9d of a conventional,well-known, Spicer universal joint. The other @member 9e of thisuniversal joint has connection with one end of a drive shaft Gf. One endof this shaft has connection with one end of a universal joint 9g. Theother member of this last-named universal joint, indicated at 3h, is

'driven in the usual way through the transmission mechanism (the casingof which is indicated at 9k) of a centrally disposed engine Sm.

A battery and battery box are indicated at Sn, this battery supplyingthe current for the igni- `4tion system of the engine, for lights, etc.,and it will be observed that the oblique disposition of shaft Sf permitsthe central location of the engine and at the same time permits thebattery to be placed so that it will counter-balance the gweight of thedriving gear mechanism shown in Fig. 4.

The frame of the machine comprises a dash 36. A tie rod 35a leads fromthis dash to the head 36h, in which the front forks 36e of the vehicleare mounted to turn. The lower ends of these forks are pivotallyconnected at 36j to links 35g, said links in turn being pivotallymounted upon the axle 36h of the front or steering wheel. A sleeve 36mis fixed to the front fork 36e, and at its upper end this sleevesupports a mud guard 38. This sleeve 36m is duplicated upon the oppositeside of the machine. Rods 3fm pass through the sleeves and throughplates 31. Springs 39 bear between plates 3l and the mud guard. Casterprop wheels 4| are carried in forks 42.

These forks 42 are provided with Shanks 43, and the Shanks are journaledto turn in the T- heads 44 of a transverse rock shaft 45. This rockshaft is in turn journaled to turn in bearings 46 of the frame 5, theupper ends of the shanks 43 being provided with crank arms 4l. Thesecrank arms are connected at their outer ends by a link 48.

One end of a drag link 49 is connecte by a ball and socket joint to link4S. The other end of the link 49 is connected at 5l by a ball and socketjoint with the rear side face of a sprocket wheel 53. This sprocketwheel is mounted upon a stub shaft 54, said stub shaft lying at aninclination and in parallelism with the hand steering shaft 8.a by whichthe hand wheel 8 is carried.

The stub shaft 54 is mounted in a bearing 55 of a supporting frame 56.It is to be especially noted that frame 56 is of such shape that theshaft 54 is caused to lie much closer to one side of the machine than tothe other. Thus the sprocket wheel 53 is brought so far to one side ofthe machine that the drag link 4S can extend a material distance acrossthe machine and thereby more effectively function.

The connections between 8a and sprocket 53 comprise sprocket chain 5land sprocket 58 on shaft 8a. Thus the hand wheel 8 not only functions tosteer the machine as a whole but it also functions through theconnections described to steer the ground wheels in unison with thefront wheel. This is of great importance, especially in backing.

The arrangement shown is an advantageous one because it maintains asteering connection to the ground wheels at all times but permits theground wheels to be thrown from elevated to lowered position and viceversa. The ball and socket connections at the ends of drag link 49permit this drag link to swing upwardly and over the top of rock shaftl5 when the prop Wheels are elevated by the rocking of the rock shaft.

A pedal B is rigidly mounted upon the rear end of a thrust link 6I. Thislink slides through a housing 62, said housing carrying a lug 63 whichis adapted to engage in either of the notches 64, 65 to thereby holdlink 5I in either of the positions to which it may be moved.

The forward end of link 6| is pivotally connected at 56 to a crank arm51 of rock shaft 45, and when the pedal 60 is thrust forwardly, the propwheels are rocked downwardlyinto position to engage the ground and toprevent undue tipping of the machine as a whole when the machine comesto a rest either in traffic or at other times.

When the notch S5 is released from detent 63, a spring G8, connected tocrank 66 and to a brace 69, acts to draw the prop wheels quicklyupwardly. This also moves the link forward until notch 64 engages detent53 to thereby positively hold the prop wheels in elevated position.

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the preciseconstruction set forth, but that it includes within its purview whateverchanges fairly come within either the terms or the spirit of theappended claims.

I Having described my invention, what I claim 1s:

l. The combination with an elongated main frame for a two-wheeled,tandem type vehicle, of a pair of rear fork members pivotally connectedthereto, a pair of enlarged plates, to which the rear ends' of the rearfork members are rigidly connected, a yoke of inverted U-shape, havingthe lower ends of its legs rigidly connected to said plates andextending over the top of said rear wheel, a two-part tubular shaft, asolid shaft traversing said tubular shaft, means for binding the plateof one of the fork members upon one of the sections of the tubularshaft, means for binding the other of said enlarged plates upon thesolid shaft, a ring gear mounted to turn upon one of the sections of thetubular' shaft, a rear driving wheel mounted to turn upon the othersection of the tubular shaft, a pinion meshing with the ring gear, ashort shaft section by which the pinion is carried, bearings for holdingsaid short shaft section in proper alignment and lll in operativerelation to the ring gear, an oblique- 1y disposed driving shaft, anduniversal joint oonnections between the ends of said driving shaft andthe engine upon the one hand, and between said short shaft section andthe engine upon the other hand.

2. The combination with a main frame, comprising a pair of side framemembers, of rear fork members pivotally connected to the main frame, apair of enlarged plates lying in vertical planes to which the rear endsof the rear fork members are rigidly connected, a two-part tubularshaft, a solid shaft extending through said tubular shaft, means forbinding the plates to one of the forked members upon one of the sectionsof the tubular shaft, a filler piece lying be-` tween the other of saidplates and the other member of the two-part shaft and through which thesolid shaft passes, means threaded upon the solid shaft for binding thelast named plate against said filler piece, a rear driving wheelcomprising a hub mounted upon one of the parts of the tubular shaft anda rigid yoke of inverted U-shape extending over the top of said drivingwheel and having the lower ends of its legs rigidly axed to said plates,said yoke being formed of a'material of such strength and rigidity as toY constitute a strong and rigid connection between said plates.

JAMES G. TINGLE.

